Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Soccer in the States


Like most years, the beginning of the Major League Soccer season kicked off recently and no one seemed to notice. In a country dominated by FOOTBALL and baseball and basketball, soccer is overlooked and under appreciated. Unlike the rest of the world, America does not take much pride in professional soccer. As a result Major League Soccer has had a tough time leaving the ground. Now, in their 12th season, the league is finally beginning to gain awareness. Attendance is up (but still very low), advertising revenue is up and even ESPN has begun broadcasting regular season games!
From a PR/Marketing standpoint, MLS has really been slow to act. They have what I would consider a good product, but have been unable to make any headway in America. But recently they have gotten noticed and I believe a lot of it has to with their new, effective "You're a fan. You just don't know it yet" campaign. The commercials have run on sports networks ESPN and FSN, as well as ABC (that I have seen). I think what makes them brilliant is that they take aspects of every other sport we love in America and show that soccer has them all - quickness, agility, teamwork, contact etc. Whoever is behind their latest campaign deserves recognition for this recent success.
To test popularity of MLS among some of my cohorts I asked around. Of the 10 people I asked, 4 had watched an MLS game this season (the season just began four weeks ago). Although this number may not seem extremely high, it is huge compared to how many had ever watched a game prior to this season, 0.
The point is, MLS is making headway and I can't help but think their recent campaign is part of the reason, that and the anticipated arrival of David Beckham...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

yeah those commercials are awesome! and the U.S needs to jump on the ban wagon with the rest of the whole entire world and like soccer. it's so weird how other countries are so into it...like to the extreme, and we just don't really care...maybe someday...

Ben said...

yeah, but it seems like we are starting to get more and more interested, and I love the role this campaign has played in it

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